##VIDEO ID:AD1hy1GKNGs## [Music] f all right so just a few minutes late uh I'd like to call this meeting of the climate action planning committee to order thanks uh thanks everyone for attending um so close to the holidays uh and so uh before we dive into the agenda I just wanted to let you know that item four um the outcomes of the seat to seat expert match engagement we're gonna have to put that off till January uh because our our point of contact on that programs wasn't available tonight um so hopefully the agenda is light enough that we can make up for our late start and and still end um promptly tonight uh so I'd like to go straight in to public comment um we have a public commenter here in the room with us and is there any line on the climate action un Oh I thought that was Zoom okay all right so do you want to sit here where you can you see [Music] clearly any way what I'll sleep here Hey Ron can you mute yourself oh sorry my name is Webster Collins I live at 533 Harland Street in Milton and what my topic was that I I'm sure you're aware of it and saw the article about uh the uh cost issues as relates to uh the capc uh issue that has now evaporated since I wrote that article because mayor woo has had her uh last harah and was turn down and the costs that I was concerned about for the town of milking are no longer uh an issue as a result of another event and I I will hand this out uh on page two and I'll read it it's very significant the Law Center that's of the brighter future publish this let a significant that they say a significant role in the state and federal cases finding Municipal takings of home equity unconstitution mayor woo who wanted $130,000 out of my pocket for a property I own in downtown Boston and that has all gone away because of this and it doesn't impact Milton in any uh way shape or form so it it just eliminates that as a uh as a problem uh Point completely so that's what I just wanted to present and hand this out whoever whoever wants to see it you going to re with us this for you and I don't think you need this anymore as I'm here to answer uh the article that I wrote and uh basically uh I have nothing more to to bring to the table tonight now it's the reason for coming on purpose for um so with that I will disappear and you can go to your regular uh minutes apprciate thank you i' like to prep I appreciate you showing up in person that's a first for all right um now the the next item on the agenda uh is a vote to approve our meeting minutes from the November meeting um did everyone have an opportunity to review the minutes and correct them for accuracy and entertainment value oh whoever did those minutes they're great they certainly are um so I will entertain a motion to approve the mission uh approve the minutes anybody who would like to offer one I'll offer I make a motion we approve who is that even uh motion yes and that's a second from you I suppose right all in favor okay seems like the eyes have it uh wonderful we have some approved meeting minutes um so now we can we can hop into the meet of the meeting uh which is updates on the working group uh research progress uh who has something that they would like to share tonight I I have put something together that I emailed out shortly before the meeting um so I will talk for a few minutes any working groups ready to update Transportation I can um I can just add it it it was not a very productive month for transportation um with the holidays and all but I know um you know there's some Grant work that I've been looking at that we've talked about Alex um and I know um Eric you had mentioned that you might take a look at the air table do you have any updates from that I don't um sorry when when I responded um I was watching kind of see what else would come up and then I didn't follow through on you know seeing where people were because honestly I need I need more input from the rest of the team yeah so um so Transportation kind of a bust this month it sounds like um feels like this meeting was yesterday in November to be honest well I apologize for putting you on the spot but since you've got the most emissions I'm gon on you I mean we we we definitely things haven't changed much but we have a to work with now it's just organizing and starting to put it into the document I did see um a lot of strategies in the table when I was in there now days it's a matter of cleaning up organizing and starting to work onto the draft which hopefully will make a lot more over Motion in January okay uh well then if there nobody else chopping at the bit to share I will um talk for a few minutes minutes about um just make sure my desktop is ready to share here and of course it's not showing what I thought it would let's see where did my stuff go is that it no first person I've ever seen that picture there it is lost it for a second okay um and uh me take a moment moment to make this legible to more people some stuff on the screen okay uh so over the the last few days I I have pushed to um get a a draft of the buildings and energy um climate action plan chapter done um this is so after wrapping up the um mapc technical assistance grant application last week uh that we'll we'll talk about at the end um and looking forward to there's there's a pretty meaty Grant opportunity um to to fund an energy manager position from the town for up to three years uh it's going to be competitive and kind of a long shot I think uh but the application deadline's January 31st and I wanted to um be able to hit the ground running in the new year um engaging some of the the key folks in town who would need to be involved in putting together such a Grant application particularly um Consolidated facilities director and the superintendent of schools uh and I felt like to be ready to reach out to them to uh discuss this grant I needed I needed to be able to um kind of show them what energy manager is needed for uh so it needed a sort of exhaustive list or comprehensive list of the high level activities um that meeting the state's emissions reduction goals in the building sector would imply um so uh I'll just since we seem to have a decent amount of time I'll I'll run through the the goals and strategies um so you know we've talked many times before about the the the pillars of the road map to n zero and Milton are um um replacing uh end uses of fossil fuels with um with electricity while simultaneously uh increasing the supply of zero carbon renewable electricity on the grid um and so for buildings that means um replacing fossil fuel Heating and Cooling equipment uh with electric Alternatives when they reach their end of life and U aggressively investing in Energy Efficiency because if we install electric heat pumps in leaky drafty buildings they will consume so much electricity we won't be able to meet demand um so uh there goals in the Energy Efficiency bucket um basically by 2030 we'd like newly constructed buildings to meet the highest Energy Efficiency building code available in Massachusetts um you know a lot of a lot of towns set a goal for you know Net Zero or lead standard uh but my understanding is that there are three building codes to choose from in m Metts um and so you know anything that goes beyond that wouldn't wouldn't be legal and so therefore not feasible um so I I set this goal um to align with the most uh climate friendly building code offered in Massachusetts and we've actually done this already uh by adopting the specialized opt-in code at at town meeting this year uh but we do need to follow follow up and make sure that uh new construction is complying with the the spirit as well of the as well as the letter of that um great question yes just because I think I've typing when you said this on the newly constructed buildings and I see mentioned in Municipal are the newly constructed buildings all newly constructed buildings or just the town buildings oh okay yeah I tried to be clear without um getting pedantic major Renovations of municipal buildings I wasn't sure what the are uh well right so this next goal goes beyond that so you the town controls the design of municiple buildings right so there's no way that you can um require private developers to go beyond the building code uh but the town can can set higher targets through it its policies um and so this is one that you know I imagine there will be some discussion of but I I wanted to pick a goal that sort of aligned with what I'm seeing in most other climate action plans so new construction and major Renovations of municipal buildings is meeting zero net Energy building performance standards uh starting in 2025 uh and zero net energy generally means like the the building generates as much renewable energy on site as it uses broadly speaking not Alex quick question uh with with these goals um how how will it be interpreted by people who want to construct the new the the new buildings that is what additional cost up front are they incurring by these if any versus a long-term benefit both to The Climate but also to energy use of of the building do we have any any ballpark estimates of that these These are great questions and I think they need to be um evaluated one building at a time um and so just just to frame this right I think the the goal at this stage is to have something very concrete for people to react to um and I I would think that if people aren't um raising concerns like that then they're not engaged right uh but this is this is a goal um I I think um and when we get into the strategies um I I've tried to you know frame the action items and strategies in a like a rational way I don't I don't think that there's any way that the town will commit to meeting these goals no matter what the cost is right um all right so uh next next goal existing buildings have completed Energy Efficiency Audits and recommended weatherization project s um and uh the goals by decade are aligned with the states targets not by what's easy so 50% by 2030 75% by 2040 100% by 2050 in electrification um we're basically looking for all buildings to Electrify over the the coming decades uh but have broken that down by um residential and um private and Municipal and also broke out a specific Target for heat pumps um which I think is one one of the more challenging um uh system upgrades today uh for most people okay moving into energy uh electrifying everything is all well and good uh but we'll make no difference in climate goals unless the electricity is clean uh and so the clean energy Supply needs to be there um so first goal on that bucket is to transition residential electricity Supply to 100% renewable sources by 2030 um and also transition Municipal electricity Supply to 100% renewable sources by 2030 uh and if if we do that without energy resilience people are not going to allow it to happen um so I've laid out goals in the resilience bucket as well ER can you be on I'm G just walk around moot motion sensing Duty okay um this room is so energy efficient 100% of Milton residents have access to safety critical energy resources during a power outage last up to 3 days um honestly this one I'm I'm a little off the beaten path in terms of climate action plans that I've read that I just uh I I feel like failing to acknowledge that the the major um changes in the electric grid that are planned in Massachusetts um that failing to acknowledge that it creates some some risk of uh grid outages and interruptions in in um iCal Supply is is unwise right so um when you when when I sort of Listen to Energy sector podcasts and what people who work in the industry are thinking about they're they're worrying about this constantly um and they're all kinds of Technologies available both um at the grid scale and you know commercially uh to to manage those risks and I think they they should be part of our plan be clear that that is there saying it's worse with the green energy Supply or I think it's worse while things are changing um it's there there are capacity issues today on the grid um and there are uh increasing risks of outages due to storms Wildfire flooding that's what that's why I asking a question because I know but they're also increasing risk of outages due to um increasing Reliance on on volatile renewable energy sources we're being honest about it the the The Sun Shines when it shines the wind blows when it blows the grid was designed for always on base load power you know spin up your your Coal Power Plant whenever you whenever people are running their pea kettal so um our our plan should uh consider energy resilience not just uh climate risk resilience and part of that is is generating electricity locally right so the the more the more we import our energy from uh outside of Milton the the more Reliant we are on the grid so a lot of towns have targets for um solar PV or um energy storage capacity I I didn't have time to research what reasonable targets would be uh but i' put a place holder here for that um then um knowing that a lot of people won't get past the first couple of pages I wanted uh to sort of dive in with top priority actions for a couple different groups um you know so since so much of our emissions in the building sector from private sources I wanted to start with what what should residents and building owners be doing right if I could wave a magic wand and and get us um uh you know the biggest chunk of emissions dealt with in Milton uh it would be every every private person enthusiastically doing these five things um buying uh 100% green electricity through Milton CA program is something that's anybody could log on and do today for probably less than the price of a newspaper subscription uh for average households uh and well there's a lot of complexity under the hood in terms of like what it means to buy clean electricity uh what we've got in Milton CA program is you know the gold standard of what's available today and the um at sustainable Milton we've been advocating for it pretty heavily um so that's that's sort of the lowest hanging fruit for most people uh also doing a mass save home energy assessment and completing the recommended projects um love to see everybody do that and you know when when the the natural gas boiler or the oil boiler dies U ideally people would be replacing that from today uh they'd be replacing that with a electric heat pump even though the Grid's not clean today over the lifetime of this equipment uh the the the electricity is rapidly getting cleaner uh whereas if you put in another natural gas or oil boiler you know it's going to last 20 years you'll be burning fossil fuel the whole time um and these are not simple projects so I think we want to focus on helping people you know before they're cold in in Winter and their their their furnace is dead like having done some of the the groundwork to be ready to go for heat pumps instead of just doing the same thing in on an emergency basis um installing solar panels or battery storage when feasible and cost- effective so you know I think people need to hear that hey not every home's a good candidate um uh and that's okay you're not uh you're not a bad person because you have trees shading your roof uh question on the end or that sounds like a good advocate for battery only installation is that was that your intent to be well they're separate I mean you could you could benefit from battery storage even without solar uh as kind of it's it's like it's like a renewable gas generator sort of right so for for power continuity and outages but they're they're best paired with solar for sure um and then for folks uh whether whether or not solar works for your house Community solar programs are a way to actually uh accelerate the deployment of clean electricity in Massachusetts while saving money on your electric bone um so kind of a win-win but people don't always know about them or trust these programs and so I think get getting more folks comfortable and and participating in those would be great uh on the municipal side um I think we we need to start by doing electrification and Energy Efficiency pathway studies for all municipal buildings and incorporate that in capital planning so back to your comment Steve right like we can't just commit to this without knowing what it's going to cost uh but if we're going to take this plan seriously the first thing we need to do is figure out what it would cost and and in a constructive way right like I I think there's a way of approaching that by saying Hey look it's it can't be done you know because you haven't looked for Creative Solutions uh Creative Solutions are out there Partners who know how to do this coste effectively are out there and that's I think where the town needs to be focusing uh in thei future and we've heard this comment at previous meetings uh you know we we've recommended in the past that Milton increase the uh renewable energy content of the ca program uh for residents but we don't purchase voluntary uh renewable energy for the town's power purchase agreements I think that the town should be leading by example and doing that um on the town operations side uh we need a a staff member who pushes the stuff along um we should adopt opt and specialized building code yay we we've done one thing um we need to facilitate those private actions right the those recommendations particularly heat pumps and solar installations are not easy uh a lot of towns are having success with coaching programs and um uh you know making sure that residents are accessing all the incentives and supports that they're entitled to um and particularly um trying trying to help um uh folks with the more complicated projects find vetted um reputable contractors and also review their projects um and get get sort of independent support and making sure that the the designs for their house are are solid um and then we do we do have this lever um with the ca progr prog uh and the clean electricity content of the default tier uh so I think we we missed our opportunity this year we just started a new contract um that's set for three years but next time that comes around in 2027 I think we we need to laid the groundwork with with the town and with the select board to to start moving that towards 100% for everybody if we want to hit that 2030 goal all right any any questions uh before I keep talking all right I won't go down to the Action level um but I have sort of five or six strategies um hey Alex can I just comment um I used um Abode um as a I guess energy coach um I participate in the um Mass C program and they were provided for free and it was amazing yeah it was so helpful because it's you know it's it's daunting to to get up to speed on everything involved with the heat pump and then all the incentives and the equipment and if it's really going to you know do what you want it to do which is you know yeah most importantly keep you warm in the winter yes yes I um I've got them listed right here in fact yeah when I when I did my um fuel oil boiler to heat pump conversion I overthought it for two or three years and in that time I worked with a coach from the Heat Smart Alliance I actually I think I paid about $100 to aode because I wasn't doing it through a program uh but it was well worth it to have them review my quotes and give help me select the best one and give me questions to ask my contractor and that sort of thing um and I think you know if if it's 2030 or 2040 and people still need that kind of support to be successful with heat pumps we're not going to be in a good place uh but in 2025 that's how things are right and I I think um the important thing is you know the people who are doing heat pumps um in the next three or four years are going to be sort of motivated early adopter types like us and um it's important that they have success so I think that's that's where the town should focus you know there's a there's an adoption curve here uh and we we can't pretend like we're on the Steep part we're on the shallow part um so I think Co coaching could go a long way to sort of developing a positive track record there um second strategy up Alex just just a shout out to you as a thank you my wife actually attended the session that you you had online about the the new contract and found it uh informative so just uh I thank you for for hosting that oh thanks yeah um one of our sustainable militon members organized all that whole thing and uh I just showed up to help but I'm glad I'm glad it was useful um so this needs more fleshing out but the the second strategy is to use zoning building codes and the development review process to encourage um you know highly energy efficient resilient and low carbon new construction the building building code update was a big part of this but um you know a lot of plans have more uh going on here this is not a an area of strength for me but I'm hoping uh some some good ideas will will will flow in once I kind of make that high level statement and and and Shop it around a bit um this would mean engaging the planning board uh to to figure that out um so I won't I won't go too deep there because I don't really know what I'm talking about um third strategy leading by example in the management of Municipal facil facilities um so Municipal facilities are only 2% of Newton's emission but it's still uh the town's going to have credibility uh to to to lead folks in a positive way towards making these changes in their own buildings um needs to be walking the walk uh and there's there's a lot to do here um so you know coming back to your your question before uh Steph um you know I I think one thing that will help make the numbers work is is being honest with ourselves about the um sort of Lifetime ownership costs of fossil fuel versus Electric Systems um the you know the trajectory of natural gas prices is is uh is up and to the right uh and so if you think about operating costs over the lifetime of of these systems um electric Alternatives start to look more uh attractive especially um when you're talking about larger municipal buildings um larger Capital Investments like geothermal heat heat systems can can pay off in the long run with much lower operating costs um so working that into our process for for U Facilities Management um I think would be valuable yes please sir um not to interrupt um please I was thinking what you like what you were saying before about resiliency um I think you know adding that to the actions here um would be great you know like we've talked about like cooling centers you know or places when they lose electricity if if you know municipal buildings maybe have you know battery storage they might be able to you know fulfill that role and I think um there is something about that down here but okay uh but there there are definitely room to add um um things along those lines for sure I think politically it's a nice thing to emphasize yeah people are gonna get something Cent is further down somewhere um but anyway yes when we when we talk about the energy manager Grant um I think the the intent of that Grant is that the the the staff member that it funds would focus on a lot of these kinds of um projects yes two thoughts one is how do the um private high energy consuming entities in the town fit in here for example businesses they're certainly included in the goals uh so we have a we have a widespread Collective action problem where the the town's in no position to compel um any anybody to do these things and so we have to I think focus on the facilitating so this this coaching program should uh probably primarily focus on residents but not neglect shoulding the employes from the town leing and being the unated by homeowners but hopefully go be homeowners um thought um was it earlier one you mentioned parties that we be engaging with I I didn't hear of the DPW and um it that's not on the radar that might be a good area to include because the town engineer forse under the director Public Works who is now Molina Fernandez who is a former Town engineer and she also the town engineer right now she serving wearing both hats right now bu um and the town's environment coordinator is H in the engineering department so I was just talking about the main folks to engage on buildings I thought of DPW I mean I'm sure they have a few buildings but there I think would be a much bigger player and storm water and transportation but the tacles are good yeah no certainly um we we'll be talking to them okay uh fourth strategy deploy distributed energy systems such as micro grids and District geothermal to reduce Peak demand and power essential services in a grid outage oh Steve I see your hand raised yeah just uh just sort of a side question um you're in a brand new space there and just so I understand sort of where the town is starting from is that like a a lead gold rehab or is a new fire station lead gold I mean are is the town thinking in in that frame yet are these buildings built for the sustainability and resilience they I get the sense that they make an attempt uh but um I I think we we need um there's been a lot of Staff turnover for one so I think just engage is necessary to kind of see um how these decisions are being made I know like the new the new um fire station they they evaluated heat pumps and solar and decided not to not to do either or there's still a natural gas hookup over there for example all right so so it's a we're starting at a fairly low level to try to educate and get people bought into the these concept I guess I mean I I think that they're fully aware um of these Technologies and um um like they they did a heat a big heat pump installation at the library but just uh I I don't have the um the level of awareness there that I would like to okay thanks so the fourth strategy is um gets into that resilience category Lisa um so we heard about the micro grid Study last month uh and that sort of fits into uh preparing the town for energy interruptions uh to be resilient in an emergency um so I put a piloting a solar battery microgrid system in there as an action um a district geothermal heating systems there's some some folks in town who love to see a uh District geothermal system installed for the two churches you know police station and Town Hall um sort of downtown area um I don't know if that's going to gather uh steam or not but um you know these are the kinds of um sort of energy infrastructure innovations that we should be looking at and evaluating carefully uh and I did want to put in here um a nod to uh fuel power backup Generations as as a totally valid and probably necessary component of the solution you know I feel like sometimes we create a false um uh problem for ourselves saying that there can't be any fossil fuels anywhere um and and therefore exposing yourself to like some pretty profound risks in a power outage um if you've got you know a natural gas or propane generator that only runs like a few hours a year and it's going to keep people safe like we should absolutely do that right yeah also the understanding that even batter electric vehicles if they if the green the building of them is not so green and that includes a lot of battery yeah backup type things so so electricity is cleaner solution it's the in the sort of 2050 we did it future electricity is the predominant energy source most of the time but even the state's plans sort of expect that there will be residual emissions and also a lot of like um low carbon fuels like biofuels even even though you're burning something that's chemically identical because the carbon comes from the um the current current carbon cycle it it doesn't have the same global warming impact right so you just could never grow enough uh corn to make enough biofuels to power our economy today but I think as a backup fuel um so another strategy here we need to proactively engage every resources uh grid modernization process um to ensure that Milton getting the grid capacity and resilience that it needs uh so one thing I learned um and Kyle I see your handle I'll come to you soon as I finish introducing this um I I looked at ever sources um electrics modernization plans U for the region and Milton is in a sort of deficient capacity Zone compared to some of our luckier neighbors so we're serving by um a substation in Hyde Park which is already at capacity uh and is projected to be at 150% capacity by 2030 uh and I I think that's like a peak capacity thing so obviously on a normal day it's not a problem but um the kind of peak load where it becomes a problem will become more and more frequent over the coming decade and they currently have plans to expand that substation adequately by 2029 which is not so soon so um they have a public engagement process that's been running for a year but it seems to to my knowledge they've only they haven't proactively reached out to Milton and I don't I'm not aware that we're engaging with them so I think that's something that we should be um involved in um I don't have specific actions and then this last one I don't know if this belongs here um but it sort of does under resilience expanding the town's capacity to reach all residents with emergency and routine Communications um I think this will fit under Wildfire under heat waves under flooding under grid outages um we're I think that the town's channels for getting a message out to people are pretty slow uh and you know they don't use social media much so um something to think about all right so Kyle yeah just quickly is um like a local micro grid strategy how does that compare to the programs that some of the utilities have already for like um like I was just learning about the connected solution program where you can offer up your own battery to the grid basically for usage um I guess does that fit in where I'd be curious where programs like that fit into into any of this I think uh um I'm still learning about this myself but my understanding of the micro grid proposal that we heard about last month uh was just a just exactly the same solar solar Plus Battery um with a kind of connected solution style um ability to dynamically um Power from battery versus Grid in order to shavee Peaks or web short outages it's the same thing just just when you scale it up to several buildings um with with higher loads then you call it a micro grid because um so I think the core of a micro grid is the ability to Island during an outage and retain power locally uh and so yeah if you have solar panels and a and a battery in your house then you have a teeny little microG grid to keep your your coffee maker working that's that's the thing that I care about the most important I'm lucky lucky not to have larger larger electricity needs so that that's my update um I'm hoping uh you know to put this in front of some some stakeholders uh in the new year uh and start getting H uh difficult questions and feedback yes Ron yes I noticed that the um recommendations for implementation have yet to be developed yeah uh to me you know uh dealing with the conservation plan that was more one of the more difficult pieces to do um because it it's complicated and how to how to translate this into action and negotiate with the different players I think um need some specificity or some sort of plan along with some kind of estimate of the costs that would be involved which also is a difficult number to come out with but um and as part of the implementation plan it would be great to have some short-term two-year outcomes uh in addition to longer term outcomes yeah I think um uh getting getting to this level of detail is sort of necessary to get to that next level of detail right yeah so uh you have to kind of getting a cost estimate is a lot of work yeah so you need to know specifically for what right and so and I also think um another key piece of imp recommendation for implementation is like who's gonna who's supposed to do it whose responsibility is this exactly um and again I needed the this level of detail to go to those people and say how would you feel being responsible for that oh you terrible or you don't have time oh maybe we need to hire that energy manager find find funding to do it but but I totally agree um I think those that level of detail will come out of the engagement process okay good um and uh you know we talked a lot about grant funding last time I just can't see myself doing this alone or without some some paid help so hopefully this is getting us towards making a case that we need that help um to get where we need to go okay I just I think that um in the larger scheme of things um we need at some point I presume it'll come within the next year to to have a sense of what we're talking about rid large in terms of each one of our plans I lose track of how many there are but at least I think four or five of them uh with some kind of proposed implementation and cost involved because that I think would give us the opportunity to pursue funding and implementation not just um in addition to on a limited work plan specific sector specific uh trajectory uh in a larger sense in terms of a climate action plan for the town yeah I I doubt that a a trustworthy cost estimate is is possible at the level of these goals I mean like to to retrofit one one Municipal Building um each each one of those is a is a is a a project to get a cost estimate right you often will need just sort of like the town went out and got a grant to get a consultant to do a cost estimate for a micr grid so you kind of need to you you first need to get alignment that this is something worth even knowing what it's going to cost and then you need to to pay some money to find out what it's really going to cost and uh and if you really want it to happen you need to be strategic about working with folks who are going to figure out how to do it at an affordable cost uh I think often what what happens is you say oh I have to cost this out well let me let me put in some uh really high number for the climate friendly stuff because I'm not actually trying so I think if we get to a place where we want to make it work uh we hopefully can find ways to make it work yeah but maybe that becomes part of the two-year action plan is to actually do all the negotiations and the cost well that's why I in my priority actions for the municipality I have pathway studies yeah so I I would like to I mean I would definitely Maybe put like twoyear outcomes at this level yeah okay um any any further discussion or questions question thank you for yes the um an the the next Grant um from the mass C I know it has a focus on K 12 schools is it just buildings or would it also include their transportation um I'm not sure yeah TBD okay um I think Mass sa has a focus on buildings but yeah you might be able to get away with you get get the kind of person who who cares about all of it you might get a little more all right um so uh let's move on to item six on the agenda um annual report to town meeting uh so I sent an email around we were invited this year to submit an annual report to town meeting um it would be due January 24th which I think is before before our next it might not be before our next meeting but it would be too late to start organizing to prepare such an annual report um I think it it's a great opportunity um to uh get back you know just get some mind share from town meeting members uh remind them that we're doing this work and eventually we're going to bring some real stuff to them hopefully soon um and so I wanted uh to get a subgroup uh to kind of work together to prepare that probably not too different from the progress report we gave to the select board but obviously updated um and was thinking probably be good for the committee to authorize some individuals to to do that work on behalf of the committee since it'll probably won't have another opportunity to kind of endorse the output Alex based on other community work the minutes that you have will be essential putting together a great resource do you that might be too much detail though don't you think yeah you just extract your highlights you don't yeah you mind the minutes don't so I mean feel like I've done that for this the progress report I gave them in September didn't go to town meeting no but I would start from that and update it and yeah do folks broadly agree with that plan just a question on the on the you said um authorized people I'm assuming that's people within this group yeah like a subset of us to just write it and submit it without having to come back for an approval um an active trust if you will and I think it should be more than just me um because I like working on teams and also just nice to have a few pairs of eyeballs involved so any any volunteers Eric okay so can I make a motion to have the select uh the the committee authorize myself uh and Eric Miller to uh prepare and submit the annual report to town meeting for 2024 you want me to uh and and Arthur you put him in the motion you motion or you part of the group I'll be part of the group okay do I have a second second second all all opposed okay all in favor okay excellent I was just trying to see if you're paying attention wonderful um and and that takes us to our last topic which is grant funding opportunities update um sort of worked this in along the way uh but we we did um get our first real Grant application submitted last week uh working with um Nick Connor on Town staff uh who uh is just so so great to have somebody who um I C I can reach out to with this committee's uh concerns and action items um glad to have him and U uh thanks to uh Lisa and Anna uh and everybody who contribut to that application um I thought it was a useful exercise whether whether we get the the money or not um it was uh there some good learnings particularly around the the funders U there have a a focus on um driving energy resilience and and positive climate outcomes for environmental justice communities and so one one of the things that Nick Conor was able to put together for us was a kind of demographic overview of you know our environmental justice communities which you're actually 25% of um 25% of Milton's population lives in census tracks which are designated environmental justice community so that was a a learning for me uh and like knowing where they are where what's an example of one of those areas just um so so the the area sort of towards matapan um around Tucker is a EJ community on the basis of um uh minority like a majority minority um population and then actually the census track that includes winter Valley uh meets the um lowincome criteria which surprised me because the census track also includes uh uh some very big houses yeah what's that it it does um so that surprised me when I first saw it but there's a lot of folks at winter valy I didn't realize um and so just it's nice to learn uh things like that about your community uh so we will we will see how that goes uh one thing we heard from MPC was uh they really prer to see matching funds um to to supplement the that technical assistance grant that in in their experience is not enough to fund the whole process um although the amount of work we've already done um puts us a little further along uh we we probably um if if they engage Us in the next round might need to look for additional sources of funding um sustainable Melton is working to Launch a a climate action fund uh and wanted to establish that and like open a bank account for it and and do all the the sort of background work to be able to collect funds to support the the work of this committee but also the you know the kinds of projects uh that that might be in the climate action plan um as a as a way for Milton residents um to support this work not necessarily through their tax doll um but through charitable giving uh and then um as we mentioned earlier there's a a pretty exciting uh and large Grant to enable us to uh hire an energy manager for the town that would be due at the end of January so anybody who's interested in helping U to get a application together please let me know um I think uh to be to do a strong application we we would need strong engagement and partnership from Consolidated facilities and this the schools superintendent um at a minimum the the more the better though yeah anybody else so I'm ready to help on that and thank you Lisa and i' you I've met with the superintendent in the past um now my you know he he came here from middleberry Vermont and now my son lives there so I can leverage that cont um yeah so I'm happy to help with that great and and I'm finding that you know whether whether the application is successful or not the conversations that that you have to uh put the application together are worth worth the time so I'm looking forward to it but I'm looking forward to unplugging and relaxing for the holidays first and I hope the rest of you are as well um so that's all I have to say on that topic there any uh any other comments okay well um borrowing additional uh comments I will entertain motions to adjourn our meeting I hear a motion to adjourn from Arthur are there any second second second Ron Ron got that one all in favor I hiid thank you all for your time it's a good to see you and I hope you have a a relaxing holiday season [Music] okay [Music]